


Ring Around the Moon

by Tarlan



Series: Dark Gift [15]
Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV), Vampire Chronicles - Anne Rice
Genre: Community: mag7bigbang, M/M, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-18
Updated: 2013-12-18
Packaged: 2018-01-04 18:03:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1084029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josiah calls the others back to the old town when he realizes they have a problem. Another vampire has moved into the surrounding area, and this one seems to be killing mortals indiscriminately. With the FBI closing in, if they cannot stop him then he might expose the existence of vampires to the modern day mortals, placing all of their race in danger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ring Around the Moon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DichotomyStudios](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DichotomyStudios/gifts).
  * Inspired by [2013 Big Bang](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1087044) by [DichotomyStudios](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DichotomyStudios/pseuds/DichotomyStudios). 



> Created for Mag7BigBang.  
> With many thanks to my amazing artist -DichotomyStudios - and to my wonderful betas - Taibhrigh and Aqualegia.

[](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1087044)

The world was changing faster than Chris liked but he knew there was no point in trying to stop it. The railway track had brought more people West and with them came all the things they believed were necessary for a comfortable and civilized life. Unfortunately, the plan to bring the railroad into the small town that had first brought him and Vin together with five others had fallen apart, much to the dismay of the town's leaders. Instead the tracks were laid more than ten miles north, subsidized by the rich cattle barons looking for easier means of getting their cattle to market as the days of trail herding slowly came to an end.

It was hard to watch from a distance as the town slowly died, with businesses closing down as the young people moved to find work in the towns spread along the track. All Chris could do was mourn the loss of a life he had known and grown to love. He saw all of Mary Travis's dreams die, and eventually, even the Clarion shut down its presses for the last time when there were too few left to read its local news. Those other towns thrived though, with the railroad bringing prosperity and yet more people. 

It was a mixed blessing really as more people meant greater and easier feeding opportunities, but with each passing decade, technology also advanced.

The electric light bulb replaced the oil lamp, and the telephone replaced the telegraph, making communication over great distances available to anyone from the comfort of their own home, and eventually from almost anywhere they could pick up a signal on a cell phone. Where previously the local Law was just the sheriff and his deputies, while the Pinkerton detectives crossed state lines to investigate wider ranging crimes, now there was the Bureau of Investigation. Back in 1935, it had changed its name to the Federal Bureau of Investigation - the FBI - and now it had field offices scattered across the United States in every major city, and smaller offices everywhere else.

Back in the old days, newspapers were rarely distributed beyond the borders of the county or township in which they were printed, focusing only on local news. With the trains and then the arrival of the horseless carriage, combined with the telephone, it became easier to spread information further afield, even nationally. Television brought news from all around the world at the touch of a button.

Returning to the town always made him feel melancholy, but Vin seemed to have his own unique way of drawing Chris out of such a mood.

Vin drew Chris back against his chest and nuzzled at his neck, teeth scraping his throat, and Chris hissed when a sharp incisor drew blood, scenting it in the air. He whimpered softly when Vin lapped at the thin trickle. This was the distraction he needed, and Chris poured his love for Vin through their bond, letting his head drop further to one side to allow Vin easier access. Sharing blood with Vin felt as good as feeding on a mortal, perhaps better. Picking up on his thought, Vin drew back a little.

"You need to feed, Chris. Your blood's thinner than the watered down whiskey Ezra used to sell back during the Prohibition."

Chris chuckled at the remembrance. The whiskey might have been watered down but it had still drawn the crowds into the Speakeasy, and with a lower tolerance level for alcohol, it had still left many of them drunk enough to pass out. When they awoke, hungover and dehydrated, they never realized it was partly from blood loss. By the time they felt ' _human_ ' enough to question their anemic condition, it was all but forgotten, and any marks from the feeding would have scabbed over and likely presumed to be accidental injuries while inebriated.

They had always been careful not to take the little sip from visible areas of skin. The carotid was not the only artery that allowed the blood to gush into them as they fed, and it was always better to avoid arteries anyway, unless they intended to drain the mortal. Better to choose a vein, Chris thought. Each of them had their favorites, though it was not surprising that Buck preferred ' _tapping_ ' the femoral vein with his head nuzzling between a woman's thighs.

"I'll feed later," Chris murmured, sighing as Vin sank his teeth in deeper to draw more blood, the brightness of pain adding to the pleasure coursing through him.

Vin pulled back before turning Chris around, not bothering to lick the spilled blood from his lips before diving in for a kiss, letting Chris taste his own blood. When he pulled back again it was to offer his own throat in return, and Chris licked a broad stripe up the side of Vin's throat before sinking into the soft, cold skin. The blood was rich from a more recent feed and Chris let Vin's memories of that feed overwhelm him until he felt as if he was a part of that moment.

As always, they couldn't seem to separate sharing blood from sex, or maybe one pleasure just led into the other so seamlessly that it seemed part of the same act of love and desire. Already half naked, it took only a matter of seconds to strip at vampire speed before another part of him was also sinking into Vin. They moved together as one, not needing words to make their needs known, feeling it in the bright silver thread of the bond linking them to each other. Bodies and minds entwined and they were lost in each other as the sensations climbed higher, eventually falling together.

Afterwards Vin smiled, stretching languidly as he drew Chris's head down to lie on his shoulder. This feeling never got old, not even after more than a century together.

"One hundred and thirty-three years," Chris murmured, voice muffled against Vin's skin.

"Give or take a few months," Vin agreed with a smile.

Chris had never been much of a scholar of history when he was mortal but now he felt he embodied it by his very existence, having already lived the equivalent of at least two lifetimes as a vampire. He had heard of the Age of Discovery and the Age of Enlightenment or Reason, and in his head he named this new era the Age of Information. It was a time when just a few strokes on a keyboard and the press of a button could bring a country to its knees, so managing information became of paramount importance, and not just to the mortals.

Back when he was first turned, only the local sheriff cared to investigate a missing person, and as that person was usually some low life who had caused trouble for the people in his town, the sheriff never looked too hard. As long as the list of the missing or the bodies of the dead didn't rack up too high and too quickly, the presence of a possible serial killer went unnoticed. Most decided that their missing person had decided to go on the run rather than end up in Yuma, or had simply moved on to richer pickings in neighboring towns, and no one truly cared unless there was a bounty on their head. The lawless ones were assumed to have crossed the border into Mexico, heading for Bolivia or one of the other South American countries that were still practically lawless at the time. On those rare occasions when a body was discovered, most explained it away as a revenge killing, or an animal attack.

With the Age of Information, and the Internet in particular, the death of a mortal in one town could be linked to another in a town several states away occurring months or even years later. Patterns began to emerge for those who were observant enough - and the FBI employed some of the most intelligent mortals in the country, weeding out the rest during the application process, and in its training Academy. Many of these agents were skilled in discerning patterns and building profiles of the ' _killer_ '.

Harder still was hiding the feeds of a larger nest of vampires such as the one he shared with Vin and the children they had sired between them - once their friends but now their family. Even taking the little sip held its danger of discovery these days as Buck had found to his detriment when one strong-minded woman reported his small feed as an assault rather than a love bite. Of course the warrant out for his arrest had necessitated in Buck laying low for more than a decade, so they had all moved north into the city for a time.

The cities gave them greater anonymity as they could hide within the teeming millions of mortals, moving in and out of the shadows at night to select targets who would not be missed. Chris and Vin had their principles, and he was glad that Josiah, Nathan, Buck, Ezra and J.D. also lived by those same codes of honor. They never took a life that did not deserve to find an early grave, but even human monsters had loved ones who cried out for justice, bringing the ever vigilant eyes of the FBI turning in their direction. 

The problem was that his family were not the only vampires hunting in the towns and cities across the world, and often those others were not as careful with their kills. Most were young vampires, sired carelessly and left to fend for themselves through the early years when the blood lust was strongest. They tended to band together and hunt in packs, feeding off the homeless and vulnerable in the ghettos and wastelands within the cities and drawing unwanted attention.

Chris rarely bothered to shield his thoughts from Vin, seeing no reason for secrets when they knew each other so intimately. He felt Vin shift beneath him and waited for him to speak out loud.

"Ain't sorry that most of them young ones are gone, Chris. Made existing harder for the rest of us."

Chris nodded, agreeing with him. Most of the younger vampires had burned to ashes when Queen Akasha rose from her millennia of sleep, awoken by their own sire, Lestat. Chris knew that his small group, including Vin, could have met the same fate just as easily, but he had learned later that she had spared them only because of their blood connection to Lestat. Those protecting Vampire interests around the globe had spun the story to make it look like the suicide pact of a freak religious cult so no one would question why they had all gone up at the same time.

In a sick sort of way it had actually drawn the attention of the FBI away from the rest of them for a time. The camera footage from the various scenes, used to try to identify the victims, cleared up countless missing person cases, mainly of young runaways who had fallen foul of a vampire while living on the streets. There were still plenty of vampires left around the world though, mostly old ones who had withstood the mental command from Akasha to destroy themselves.

Akasha was dead now, leaving a new Queen in her place. Lestat had finally given up the life of a rock star, after growing bored with all the attention and adulation, and the Seven were back in the small deserted town where they had first met.

Once more Chris was surprised by how industrious Josiah had been in the months since last Christmas Eve. Although Chris had a mansion built where his shack had once stood, that was big enough for all of them, Josiah had built a secret underground lair for them, consisting of spacious bedrooms and social areas equipped with modern appliances. Chris had a feeling J.D. had chosen all the high technology items, sparing no expense as usual.

"J.D. does like his gadgets," Vin mumbled. "And so does Ezra."

Chris snorted softly, well aware of Ezra's taste for only the very best, but Chris had to admire the television screen that took up half of a wall in the bedroom that Josiah had purposely built for him and Vin. Currently, the screen was pretending to be a window, looking out across a meadow on a warm Spring day. It reminded him of the view from his old shack; the one he had built by hand a few years before Lestat breezed through the town and changed his life forever. The view remained from his bedroom window at the mansion but the moon was his mistress now rather than the sun. Until today, all he had left was memories, but this view through the screen of a television had given all of them back some of what they had lost when they accepted the Dark Gift.

"Guess we ought to go join the others. Find out why Josiah called us all back here," Vin stated softly.

Pulling on light clothing, they padded barefoot out into the main room and telepathically summoned the others, waiting patiently until everyone had gathered. Chris tilted his head.

"Josiah?"

"I've gathered you all here because we have a Vampire problem." Josiah looked around the small group, and Chris didn't need to be able to read every mind in the room to know they were all confused. "Seems somebody is leaving a trail of bodies... of honest, god-fearing people... and if we don't get rid of this _problem_ soon then the whole world is going to find out about Vampires."

****

Chris watched as J.D. and Ezra removed the top from the dining table, revealing a large computer screen. They got to work, hacking into the FBI database to find out all the details pertinent to strange crimes within two hundred miles of the ghost town. It reminded him that this Age of Information was a two-way street, giving them just as many advantages as the mortals - as long as they took advantage of the technology. Chris would be the first to admit, though, that he was a little old-fashioned, still preferring to write things down in a journal rather than type them into a document on a computer. He still preferred the feel of a real book in his hands too, though he was slowly coming around to the convenience of one of those modern devices that could store hundreds of books. J.D. had gifted one to both him and Vin last Christmas.

Vin loved to read.

"Mary taught me the basics of reading and writing," Vin murmured, smiling as he shared the soft remembrance of those days sitting in Mary's newspaper office learning his letters. She had taught him how to write his name, taking an illiterate man and opening up a whole new world for him - and Lestat had given him the opportunity to spend over a century perfecting those literary skills.

Chris smiled back, recalling the joy of so many evenings spent discussing anything from poetry to the latest blockbuster novel with their companions. Yet, all the time in the world was still not enough to read every book, watch every movie, see every play, or visit every gallery to see every painting or piece of sculpture. The world was rich in creativity, but Chris had learned while mortal that beauty was in the eye of the beholder and that some saw beauty only in the pain and suffering of others.

"What makes you suspect a vampire, Josiah?"

"I've been working on the streets of neighboring towns, helping the poor. Came across an old woman trying to convince everyone around her that she'd seen another poor soul taken off the street. She said she'd seen a man tear into the poor soul's neck before... flying off in the blink of an eye." He looked to Chris. "Sound familiar?"

Chris side-eyed him. "Could be just the word of a crazy woman, Josiah."

Josiah nodded. "That's what the town's sheriff believes but two towns over, I hear the same story from another, but this time the victim wasn't some poor soul fallen on hard times." Josiah looked earnest. "I know I can't see into the hearts and minds of men like you, Chris, but I knew this man. He was a good man doing the Lord's work."

"Chris?" Looking over, Chris saw J.D. staring at something on the computer screen before turning to him. "You'll want to see this."

Moments later the large screen in the main room came to life, depicting the body of a man hanging upside down high in a tree, with two familiar sets of bite marks on his throat. Drained of blood.

"Josiah?" Chris glanced across and saw Josiah nod in confirmation. This was the mortal Josiah had talked about.

"Patrick Swansom."

J.D. began a slideshow moving through the evidence gathered at the scene of the crime, and the coroner's report.

"Two vampires?" Buck asked.

"One vampire. Bite marks are the same," Vin said as he sank down close to Chris. "Second set's upside down."

"So he took a bite to weaken the victim, then strung him upside down to finish his supper," Buck postulated. "But hell if I know why he'd want to string the poor fella upside-down. Ain't gonna make the blood pump any faster for a vampire."

Ezra spoke up. "The FBI have found two more bodies with the same M.O."

"M.O.?" Buck asked.

"Means they were killed the same way, Buck," Nathan replied quietly. "You should watch something other than porn occasionally," he admonished with a wry grin, gaining a chagrined smile from Buck.

"It's the one thing that never changes, Nathan. The sight of a beautiful woman... or two... caught in the throes of ecstasy."

Chris grinned and rolled his eyes. "Same old Buck." The image on the large screen shrunk and moved across while two more images flew into view. For a moment Chris forgot about the images, impressed by the technology and the skill of his companions in using it before focusing back on the information.

"Young one?" Vin asked.

Chris shook his head. "Possibly, but most walked into the Sun or killed themselves another way. More likely an old one, woken up from hibernation by Akasha. A vampire not familiar with the modern world."

"Or one that doesn't care," Nathan added. "Some of them old ones go crazy. Like Magnus... Lestat's sire."

Vin nodded, not needing to share his knowledge of Magnus with Chris as both of them would have shared those memories with Lestat when he sired them. Magnus had killed himself moments after siring Lestat, leaving the newly created vampire without a guide during those early years, which explained Lestat's initial lack of knowledge of their own kind. In contrast, Lestat had taken his own sire duties seriously despite turning both him and Vin on a whim. Even now he looked out for them, and part of the reason why none of them needed to feed more frequently despite their young age - as far as Vampires go - was because Lestat had shared Akasha's blood with them, allowing Chris and Vin to drink from him before they in turn passed on the blood, albeit in a weaker form, to their eternal companions.

Chris turned to the others. "Doesn't matter if he's psycho, sadistic or just plain ignorant of modern times. We still need to stop him before he's caught by the FBI. Something like this may be what makes the mortals stop thinking of Vampires as just old wives' tales."

Buck sobered. "And once they start to believe, they will hunt us down. All of us."

Chris felt that thought sober everyone, lending greater severity to the situation but, for now, something far more pressing was about to arise.

"It's nearly sunrise," Vin lifted his head even though there were no windows this deep in the ground.

Chris had felt its pull too, and though Akasha's blood through Lestat had made them all stronger, they still felt the pull of the sun on their minds and limbs, feeling the sleep of the dead crawling upon them.

"We pick this up again after sunset," Chris ordered. He watched as the others nodded agreement and headed for the rooms Josiah had created for them. "Josiah? A moment." Sweetly, Chris drew Josiah to him, wrapping his arms around Josiah and kissing him. He felt the larger man embrace him in turn, holding him tight for a moment before releasing Chris.

"Thank you for this gift, Josiah." Chris indicated towards the safe and comfortable walls entombing them far below the ground.

"The pleasure is all mine, Chris... Vin."

Moving swiftly back to their room, Chris pulled Vin into his arms as soon as the door sealed behind them. The sun was rising by now, no doubt sending fingers of light stealing across the landscape, crawling over the broken shutters, caved in roofs and dilapidated walls of the ghost town. With vampire speed he divested them both of their clothing before laying back on the bed, pulling Vin into his arms and sighing as Vin's cold arms wrapped around him. Both of them finally stilled as the new day sent them into the temporary oblivion of the little death.

****

Chris awoke slowly, smiling when he felt strong, cool fingers ghost across his cold skin. He smiled brighter when Vin rolled on top of him, humming contentedly into the almost brutal yet passionate kiss as their bodies pressed together from tight to chest. He hissed as a sharp incisor cut his lower lip, feeling it heal almost immediately. Above him, Vin's ice blue eyes were sparkling with mischief as he licked at the few fat droplets of spilled blood.

"Can tell you ain't fed in a month, Chris. You should feed tonight."

Chris gave a twitch of a smile at the reproach, knowing Vin would keep poking at him to feed until he did as he was asked. By rights, he should have gone out hunting with Vin a few days back, but he knew sometimes Vin liked to hunt alone. As a mortal Vin had been a bounty hunter and that had given him an innate sense of when a mortal was good or bad without needing to feel a shiver of disgust ripple through the bond from Chris. Chris knew Vin liked to work it out for himself sometimes by tailing someone who had raised his hackles. He knew Vin liked watching them from a distance as they tightened the noose around their own necks with their depraved actions. Then, when the time was right, he would hunt down his quarry, showing them the same amount of mercy that they had shown to their own victims - none.

At least Vin's quarry generally died fast, often not realizing through the haze of pleasure that they _were_ dying until it was too late.

Vin smirked above him, lowering to his forearms before dipping his head and capturing Chris's lips again, mashing them together as his hands framed Chris's face. Chris moaned at the feel of Vin's strong, cool body pressing against the length of him, feeling the sharp jut of his pelvis grinding down into the softness of Chris's abdomen as their cocks aligned. It took a little effort to squeeze his hand between their bodies but it was worth it for the gasp falling from Vin's lips as his hand wrapped around them both, stroking firmly.

"Damn it, Cowboy. You're too good at that."

"Practice," he whispered back. "Decades of practice."

Vin laughed softly, claiming Chris's mouth again in another searing kiss as the pleasure of Chris's touch reverberated between them through the shared bond. Chris kept them both on the edge seemingly forever, and yet it also seemed as if no time past at all before he was falling over that edge with Vin right beside him, his mind consumed with the fire of their passion.

Afterwards they lay boneless and relaxed, sprawled out with limbs entangled until Vin moved aside. Chris watched him stretch with catlike grace, loving the play of muscle over bone. He didn't think it was possible for anyone to become more beautiful with each passing day but Vin managed it. Vin caught the ripple of his thoughts and smiled.

"Come on, Chris. Time to stop daydreaming and get up. We've got work to do."

Chris groaned and allowed Vin to pull him up from the bed, grinning when Vin tugged him into a hug that would have crushed a mere mortal. When Vin offered his throat, Chris nuzzled the cool skin before biting, drawing the rich blood from the recent feed into his own body. It wasn't enough to sustain him, but it fulfilled its purpose for now by making him want more, and soon. He groaned again as Vin pulled out of reach, and capitulated with a sigh.

"Fine. Let's go get cleaned up and then we'll see what the boys have discovered. Then _we_ can go hunting," Chris added.

Vin smiled wolfishly, slapping Chris's naked ass as they moved into the shower together to clean up.

When they reached the main room twenty minutes and another orgasm later, they noticed the others had been busy in their absence, compiling notes and searching for kill patterns. On the large screen, J.D. was displaying a map showing all of the recent murders and disappearances that could be attributed to their Vampire killer. Chris stood next to Vin and shared his thoughts as they focused on map, trying to see a pattern that could give them a clue as to where and when the vampire would strike again, or where he might be going to ground during the hours of daylight.

"First we need to check if those missing people are the work of our vampire... or not," Nathan stated, and Chris agreed with a nod, because mortals went missing all the time without there being a link to the supernatural. Some ran away from responsibility while others got on the wrong side of some mortal problem.

He stepped up to the screen. "Put up where the victims were last seen alive."

J.D. complied while Buck moved up next to Chris, wrapping an arm over his shoulder. "I see what you're doing. Looking to see if there's a pattern for dumping the body."

Josiah smiled toothily. "Because that gives us a clue where to go hunting for the bodies of those missing people... _if_ they are his victims too."

Chris grinned. "Talking of hunting... I need to do a little hunting of my own tonight," he added in a matter-of-fact tone. "Not bothered which direction I go in so I'll let you pick a spot, Ezra."

By now Ezra had figured out that their vampire tended to travel less than ten miles from the snatch point, and mostly in a westerly direction. There were five missing people over the past twelve weeks who fitted the profile, spread across four different townships. If it was one vampire taking all of them then he was feeding every two weeks. The sheriff at Eagle Bend had found the last victim three days earlier, but the body had been hanging for a week, so if their vampire was sticking to a schedule then he wouldn't make another kill for another two or three days.

Josiah pointed to one of the towns. "Was planning a trip into Greenville to help pass out a hot meal and blanket to those in need this night."

"The kid and I fed a few days back so-."

"You ever gonna stop calling me a kid, Buck? I'm over 130 years old."

Buck grinned, "And still younger than me... _Kid_."

"Technically, Ezra's the kid now," J.D. stated with a wicked smile at his brothers, gaining an eye roll from Ezra who still refused to dismiss their lives as mortals in the counting of years. Nathan leaned down from where he was standing over his immortal companion, and kissed him deeply, no doubt to forestall that old and familiar argument.

"Buck?" Chris warned before they all started bickering, even though he enjoyed it for the most part. It was old and familiar.

"Me and the _kid_ ," Buck stressed, "will take Parson's Ford. Got two of the missing close together. We'll check out that ridge on the west side of the town. Unlike the F.B.I.," he annunciated each letter, "we can cover more ground, and faster, especially as we know where to look."

"Ezra and I will take Jericho, Chris. Know how much you hate that town."

"Ain't got many fond memories of that place, Nathan."

Chris turned to Vin, knowing Vin hated to let him hunt alone even though he was more than capable - just as fast and deadly now as he had been as a mortal gunfighter. However, the recent brush with true death, courtesy of Ella Gaines, had made both of them more wary of spending time apart, plus Chris knew that sometimes he couldn't filter out all the voices of the mortals surrounding him, making him more vulnerable if there was no one to watch his back. Vin knew better than to smother him, but Chris never felt more at peace than when Vin was by his side. He could tell from the soft smile and the pleasure that shone through Vin's eyes that he had shared those thoughts. They rarely even tried to shield around each other any more, accepting it as part of who they were now.

"Looks like we're hunting south, towards Purgatorio," Chris stated out loud.

"Still a nest of vipers. Ain't gonna be hard finding some low life there if needs be."

Ezra spoke up. "If this is his feeding pattern then I believe Mr. Larabee is correct in believing this vampire is no fledgling despite the frequency of his kills." Chris knew Ezra was referring to the conversation last evening. "A fledgling requires more regular sustenance, even nightly for the very young in the early days when the body is still in the thralls of the change. The time differential between each victim - missing and killed - is too regular to be the accidental over-feeding of a fledgling. I believe it is intentional, and I would not be surprised if we do find the remains of those missing people before the sun rises tomorrow."

"Talking of the sun rising," Chris stated, "We've got a lot of ground to cover before dawn."

"And first you do need to feed, Chris. Looking paler than a ghost these days," Buck added softly, and Chris could see the concern in his brilliant blue eyes. He could read it in Buck's surface thoughts too, and in Josiah's and J.D.'s. Although the sire-child bond meant he could not read thoughts from Nathan or Ezra, a small glance proved they were just as concerned for him.

Chris knew they all tended to worry over him but taking Akasha's blood direct from Lestat meant he and Vin could go over five months between feeds, though it was almost six since he had last fed. In truth he had no desire to feel the flood of thoughts that threatened to overwhelm him whenever he was in close proximity to mortals. He hated being forced to re-live the sadistic pleasure taken in the pain and cruelty that his victim had inflicted upon others as he fed. For Chris, his Dark Gift was as much a curse in that he could not shut it off when around mortals and even most vampires. Even those mortals of purer heart could have dark thoughts, visualizing death and suffering for those who had wronged them even if they would never carry that action through into reality. It was exhausting, which was why he preferred to live far away from civilization. Fortunately, Vin had never liked the crowded cities either and was happy to stay away from them for the most part. When they did go into the cities, Vin or one of the others always secured a sanctuary for him in a quiet suburb to help keep the voices at a low rumble at the back of his mind.

His gift of telepathy gave him a greater insight into Lestat, who suffered a similar curse though to a lesser degree as most vampires could not read the thoughts of mortals until they were feeding upon them. The gift of Akasha's blood had freed both of them from the need to subject themselves more often to the true evil that lived in the hearts and minds of some mortals. Drinking Akasha's blood through Lestat had also made him and Vin, and the others through them, some of the most powerful vampires in existence despite their youth when compared to vampires as old as Marius and Armand.

"As Vin said... Plenty of low life in Purgatorio, if we need to go that far." He felt the collective sigh of relief from the others, smiling when Nathan wrapped his arms around him and kissed him sweetly upon the lips in thanks. "We'll meet back here one hour before dawn."

Chris watched as the others moved off swiftly towards their designated localities, but for Chris, it was time to hunt. Tangling his fingers with Vin's they moved to the surface of the ghost town lying above Josiah's lair, and took to the night sky.

***

They hadn't even needed to cross the border into Mexico before Chris found a mortal who deserved to find no mercy at his hands.

The woman ran a prostitution racket, but just as Wickes had done back when Chris and Vin were mortal, she forced her victims into an ever-increasing spiral of debt. Those that tried to escape were hunted down and made an example to discourage the others, often by disfiguring them so they could still work off their debt - though at a far lower and therefore slower rate. It was just another form of slavery in Chris's eyes. Yet that was only one part of her cruelty.

It was pure coincidence that Chris heard the worried yet excited voices far out into the desert. He and Vin watched from a distance as the guards opened the back of a battered truck and forced out the latest unsuspecting group of Mexican men and women. From their thoughts, Chris knew they had paid to be brought across the border into the United States, envisioning a better life for themselves and their families. Instead, Chris could read the avarice in Nina Branding's mind as she inspected each in turn. After selecting three young boys and eight of the girls, she nodded to her associates. Even without the ability to read minds, Chris knew her intentions, barely noticing the pain as he bit into his own lip in anger as her men herded the others - men, women and children too young to be of use - back onto the truck, ignoring the cries of children separated from their parents.

"They have orders to drive the truck out into the desert and dispose of the people inside," Chris stated angrily. "I know we've got a vampire to catch, but I can't let that happen, Vin."

"Hell, I can't either, Chris."

As one they headed after the truck first, and Chris was relieved when the truck stopped less than ten miles later in an even more desolate area. He could smell the stench of rotting flesh and dry bone, and knew this was a killing ground for more than this one truck load of mortals. Chris tried to block out the numerous fear-filled voices in his head, concentrating on the guards and driver instead. The guards got out and went round to the back of the truck. In perfect synchronicity, Chris swooped in and took one guard while Vin grabbed the other. Having no patience this evening, Chris drained his victim quickly, dropping the corpse miles away from the pile of rotting flesh and bone from Branding's earlier victims. The guards didn't deserve to have their bones lying among those they had murdered even if it made sense not to leave a vampire kill close to the mass grave. All this had taken but a few minutes, but by the time they got back the driver was starting to panic, calling futilely for the guards.

He turned around, a relieved smile falling from his face when he found Vin standing in front of him rather than one of his associates. Vin moved preternaturally fast, and the man was dead moments later, his body carried off to join the guards. Chris unlocked the back doors of the truck then jumped onto the roof, watching as the most courageous of the mortals pushed the door open and peeked out. He waited until the mortal had jumped down before dropping the keys that he had taken from the ignition. By the time they landed with a clink at the mortal's feet, Chris was already speeding away into the darkness of the night.

He and Vin still had one more task to do before they began the search for the other vampire's victims.

They caught up with Nina Branding back at her sumptuous residence on the edge of a town close to the Mexican border. The upscale whorehouse catered for a more expensive clientele, offering services that made Chris want to tear into every patron of this establishment. They entered through the front door, welcomed by Nina, and followed her into a comfortable room where she offered them a seat and a drink.

"Mr...?"

"Larabee. Chris Larabee," he offered her his hand, decades of practice making it easy to keep the rage from showing in his face.

"And what can I do for you, Chris? No. Let me show you what I can do for you." 

She snapped her fingers and a young girl of no more than fourteen was brought into the room. Chris could sense the sedation that further confused the child's thoughts and his lips tightened involuntarily. Nina misread his expression.

"Or perhaps you have... other desires."

This time a young boy was brought in, and Chris could feel his rage begin to boil over. He snapped back under control as Vin drawled softly.

"Yeah., we'll take both of them... and all the rest too."

"I don't..." Her words choked off as Chris grabbed her by the throat, knowing Vin had already spirited the children away so they would not witness what was to come. Chris fed from her slowly, stealing away her sick thoughts and dark memories along with her blood. He shared the thoughts with Vin, all her hidden secrets of names and places that would take down her depraved empire, knowing Vin would ensure the Sheriff's Department uncovered every detail of her sick operation, including the whereabouts of the mass grave in the desert, so they could dismantle it permanently. Of course they would never find Nina Branding, believing she had gone on the run to escape the death penalty for her crimes. Part of him hated that he could not offer greater closure for her victims, knowing they would always wonder if she was living a good life at the expense of those she had betrayed into slavery. He had to protect his own first though.

Having dumped Branding's body where it was unlikely ever to be found, and feeling strong and warm again, Chris and Vin turned back to the other task they had set out to do this night. Moving swiftly to the west of the town, they used their stronger than human senses of vision and smell to seek out a possible victim of their vampire problem.

"Found him," Vin stated through the mind link, and Chris followed Vin to a copse of trees standing on top of a ridge.

The body was hung upside down, just like the others, and drained of blood.

"Chris? Take a look at this."

An old piece of lace was caught in the man's hand, as if he had struggled with his attacker. Chris examined it carefully.

"It's rotted with age. Like something in a museum from several centuries ago."

Using the camera on the expensive cell phone provided by Ezra, they took numerous photos before taking down the body and spiriting it away to where they had dumped Branding's body. With no body to discover, the FBI would not be able to link this missing person with the two victims they had found already, buying them some more time to stop this vampire before he betrayed all of his kind.

"Let's head back. See what the others have found."

****

"Looks like our vampire is responsible for at least three out of the five missing people," Buck stated, and he watched as Ezra placed an electronic marker at each snatch and kill point.

"Got a hunch," Nathan said, and he stepped up to the large screen, tracing a finger from each kill like spokes on a cartwheel to an area about twelve miles from their ghost town. Nathan tapped the screen at that location. "That's close to the old Seminole village where I lived with Rain until..." The _until I left my mortal life behind_ went unspoken.

Ezra joined him, wrapping one arm around Nathan's waist as he tapped a spot a few miles distant from the village. "Or the old gold mine." His emerald-green eyes shone brightly. "Although it wouldn't be my first choice of accommodation, I know for a fact that the mine runs deep into a natural cave system."

"Would make a good place to hide from the sun," Buck added.

"And from discovery," Chris agreed, because it was in a remote area with no living person in any direction for twenty miles.

The old Seminole village was long gone. Many of the villagers had been wiped out by the same fever that had taken Nathan, and those that survived had taken all of their belongings and left, joining up with another Seminole tribe just across the Mexican border to the south-west. Chris knew Nathan had watched over them for a while, wanting to protect his chosen people. He had studied medicine in greater depth, keeping abreast of new discoveries and drugs, and returning to tend to the sick when another illness spread through the village back in the 1920s. In time, all those he remembered from his mortal life passed on, but he still visited occasionally to check up on their descendants.

"Let me see that scrap of lace," Ezra asked and Chris handed it over, watching as Ezra examined it carefully.

Ezra had always had an eye for fine haberdashery, wearing expensive linen shirts and tailored velvet jackets in keeping with his gambler image back when he was mortal. Not much had changed over the years except now his suits were Armani and Gucci, worn over the finest silk and linen shirts, with Italian leather shoes.

"The style is reminiscent of lacework... circa 1620. Around the time of the Pilgrim Fathers." Ezra raised an eyebrow.

"So he could be an old one who might not be so up on the times," J.D. added. "Like Chris said yesterday."

Vin leaned over and fingered the fine lace. "Whoever or whatever he is, we have to stop him before he brings hell down on all of us."

"Not enough time left to check out that mine tonight," Buck added. "Not unless we want to spend the day there too." 

Chris grinned when he saw the shudder go through Ezra at the very thought. From time to time they'd all had to make do with some hole in the ground out of necessity but never through choice, and Ezra would be the one complaining the most on every occasion. Beside Ezra, Nathan chuckled at the memory shared through Vin; the rich, warm voice bringing a smile to everyone, and Chris laughed at the indignation on Ezra's face that was quickly wiped away with the sweetest kiss from Nathan.

"Hey! Maybe we can check back through the history of this area. See if there are any legends surrounding this guy." J.D. began typing furiously, fingers moving faster than a mortal could see.

Chris watched him for a while before Josiah came in and dropped a pile of books onto the table. "Had the same thought myself when I was talking to an old man at the shelter earlier. Borrowed these from the town library."

"Surprised it was open that late, Josiah." Vin picked up a book and started to read.

"Wasn't." He gave them all a big, toothy smile.

Chris picked up another book and sank down into a soft leather armchair, quickly immersing himself in the written history of the area in the hope that hidden within its pages might be a clue to the identity of their vampire.

"Think I've found something," Vin stated quietly about an hour later, and began to read out loud, translating from the Spanish. "The creature took the form of the Franciscan priest, Hernando de Aquilis, who had been lost in the battle with the Escanjaques six days earlier, but its face was as death and it was long in tooth. Blood dripped from its jaws and it snarled. In the blink of an eye it was gone, taking the body of the unfortunate Eduardo Ramez with it. Many others disappeared over the months that followed." He looked across at the others. "Seemed that was just the start. Found the body of one of the missing several weeks later, hanging upside down in a tree."

"Where was this, and when?" Chris asked.

"Texas panhandle in 1602."

"A priest," Josiah mused. "Might explain why he took to hanging them upside down."

"How so?" J.D. asked but it was Nathan who answered.

"Inverse crucifixion. Maybe this priest figured he was possessed by a demon and was trying to appease Satan."

"And he'd be right," Chris said wryly, "If everything we've learned since Lestat woke Akasha is true."

"All men carry the demon in their hearts and minds, and each must choose how to exorcise it." Josiah laid a hand on Chris's arm. "Even the Angels of the Lord were used to smite down evil." his voice lowered to a rumble. "You've never taken a single soul that hadn't deserved it for their sins, Chris. Neither have the rest of us."

Mollified, Chris nodded his thanks to Josiah. "If this is that same priest then there may be no reasoning with him. He may be insane."

"Guess we'll find out tomorrow. For now I figure sunrise is less than an hour away." Vin smiled lewdly at Chris. "And I have plans of my own for what's left of the night, Cowboy."

Chris didn't need to guess at those plans as Vin sent images of what he intended to do once they were alone in their bed chamber. Trying not to appear too eager, Chris bid the others good night and followed Vin, ignoring the knowing smiles and chuckles from the others.

***

Within an hour of the sun setting, six of the seven landed near the entrance to the old gold mine close to where the Seminole village once stood. Chris couldn't help but glance across at Ezra as he recalled that day around when they first met, when he had given him a second chance. Ezra had promised then never to let him down again, and he had kept that promise to this day. Despite the child-sire bond that made it impossible for Chris to read Ezra's thoughts, Chris knew Ezra was remembering that day too. He smiled as Ezra gave him a two-fingered salute touch to the forehead.

Even vampires couldn't see in total darkness so they switched on the torchlights they had brought with them and moved into the mine, leaving Ezra and Buck guarding the entrance just in case the vampire had already gone hunting and returned while the rest of them were inside. Nathan moved up close to Chris.

"You hear or sense anything?"

"No, but he may already be gone."

"If he was ever here in the first place, brother." Josiah reminded them that this was still an educated guess.

Vin moved swiftly ahead, silently speaking to Chris. ' _Oh, he was here, Cowboy. I can smell him._ '

Swiftly, Vin led them deeper into the mine, beyond areas that had been carved out by mortals into the cave system of narrow passageways. He stopped when he came to an area that had recently had a collapse, studying it intently.

"This was forced from the other side. Bet he was holed up in there for a few centuries." He turned his head, listening intently. "Don't hear anything now though. Chris?"

Chris stepped past Vin into this deeper part of the cave system, his eyes picking out a rich vein of gold running through the rock. He recalled the old chief, Tastanagi, telling them all the gold had been mined out from all the accessible areas. It would have taken a lot more work to go this deep, and it would have been more dangerous too. Chris could feel the fragility of the rock, knowing it wouldn't take much to cause another collapse, sealing off this area for another two or three hundred years.

"He's not here. Must have already head out to feed. Nathan? You'd best wait out there. Josiah? Vin?"

With a nod, Josiah and Vin followed Chris.

Further inside he found a shelf cut into the rock wall lined with an old Ute blanket made of rabbit fur, and rotted with age. A few modern items were placed close by and Chris could only guess how intrigued this vampire would have been by the marvels of this new age. Several new garments were placed upon another shelf, and on the ground was the remnants of a old shirt with lace cuffs that belonged in a museum. Chris could see where the lace had torn in the victim's grasp. Although used to the stench of death and rot, Chris wrinkled his nose at the dry odor of decay that had been sealed into this natural tomb for so long.

"Over here," Josiah murmured, and Chris joined him, grimacing at the pile of ash that might once have been another vampire. There was no way to tell if it had been male or female even after Vin held up several objects that might have belonged to a woman. They could just as easily have belonged to a man who liked to care for his appearance - like Ezra.

"You figure he had a child that burned when Akasha sent out the call?" Josiah asked, and Vin replied.

"Possibly. Makes him all the more dangerous if he's crazy with grief too."

Having lost a mortal child, Chris could understand that kind of grief. It had taken him years to come back from losing his mortal wife and child, knowing it had almost broken him before he came to that small town and discovered something worth living for - Vin. He glanced across at Vin knowing he would never survive losing his immortal beloved; he would rather burn in the sunlight than spend even one night knowing Vin was lost to him for all time. Chris felt the soothing balm of Vin's thoughts caressing his mind.

' _Same goes for you too, Chris._ '

Chris pulled his thoughts back from the darker ones. "Guess we got two choices. We can go hunting him, or we can wait here for him to return." Chris looked around. "Any other way in or out of this place?"

Vin shook his head. "Not that I can see. And this don't look too safe so if we're gonna wait, I'd rather do it outside under the stars."

Chris smiled. They'd been forced to go underground many times since being turned, hiding in crypts and caves, and even buried under a sand dune once to avoid the deathly rays of the sun, but Chris knew Vin had hated it. He would suffer it only if he was wrapped around Chris both mentally and physically, and he was always the first to rise and make for the open sky as soon as the sun set. Truthfully, Chris took no pleasure in enclosed spaces either though he endured them better than Vin.

"Let's head back to the surface."

At vampire speed, it didn't take long to retrace their steps, sensing Buck and Ezra's relief when they neared the surface.

"Weren't looking forward to digging you out if that mine collapsed," Buck stated with a grin.

"An understatement if ever there was one," Ezra added, flicking a little unseen dirt from his fine clothes, but Chris knew that both men would tear the flesh from their bones and the shred the clothes on their backs while they worked every minute of the night to free them if the worst had happened. He would have done the same for them.

"Just over four hours till dawn," Vin murmured, glancing up at the ring that ran around the moon hanging large in the night sky, bathing the landscape in a shimmering silver glow. "He might leave it till the last minute."

"Or not," Chris stated, eyes flashing as movement caught his eye.

The vampire standing before them had raven-dark hair. His lips were full and skin glowing, flushed with the blood of a recent kill. His eyes were the color of honey and almonds, filled with rage and sorrow, belying the angelic youth of his handsome face. Chris could feel the weight of centuries in his otherwise passive face.

"Hernando de Aquilis?"

It was obvious from the surprised look that he had not expected to be addressed by name, and he replied in a dialect of Spanish that had changed over the centuries but which Chris could still understand.

"Who are you? And how do you know my name?"

Chris left Josiah to answer, following the conversation easily along with Vin, for they had both had time to improve on their Spanish since that day as mortals when they went to Purgatorio to save Buck. He could feel the confusion within Hernando, aware that Akasha's blood had changed them, making them older and stronger than their true years.

Chris knew it could go either way now, depending on how open Hernando was to learning about the new world around him. Some of the older ones simply couldn't move on, becoming lost and afraid as the world changed around them. They were frightened by technology, by electricity and television. Just like Lestat, who had hidden himself away for decades in New Orleans, they needed someone or something to bring them back out into the world, to act as a guide to this new age of man, or they simply went insane and walked out into the sunlight like Magnus.

Yet there was also the heavy sense of grief and rage at the loss of a beloved just simmering beneath the surface, and Chris could see Hernando had questions. He wanted to know why his beloved was gone forever and Josiah looked ready to begin that story... but Chris knew the sun would rise before they could answer every question.

"Hernando. Come back with us and we can try to give you the answers... but first we need to know what you did with your latest kill."

"Why?"

Nathan answered. "Because in these times it's not so easy to hide ourselves from mortals anymore. We need to be more careful in the hunt. We need to either take the little sip or hide the body where the mortals will not find it, or destroy it completely."

Hernando looked as though he would ignore Chris's request but then gave a small bow of assent. "I will take you there."

Within the hour they were all back in the ghost town, and Chris allowed Josiah to lead their ' _guest_ ' away to freshen up before they had that talk.

****

Chris let Josiah handle the talk with Hernando, aware that the ex-Preacher and the Franciscan Priest had a connection through their religious work during their mortal lives. He sank onto the couch opposite and lay back into Vin's embrace as they listened to a story that had begun over four hundred years earlier.

"My father was an artisan. A crafter of magnificent sails, much sought after, but I had no desire to follow in his footsteps. I felt a different calling, to the Church and the Franciscan order. When the chance arose, I joined Juan de Onate and sailed to the New World on the orders of King Philip the Second of Spain to establish new missions among the indigenous people." He closed his eyes, smiling in remembrance of his youthful exuberance, but the smile faded. "Three ships sailed from Spain, but one was stricken with a terrible disease that took men in the night, leaving some victims pale with not a drop of blood left within their bodies."

Chris smiled wryly at the look Hernando gave them. The old sailing vessels of that time often took months to cross the ocean separating the Americas from Europe. A vampire on-board could survive only so long on the little sip before his deathly pallor was noted by others, and the hunger drove him to kill. Often they hid their kills among those falling prey to diseases upon the long voyage, such as scurvy.

"To keep the sickness from spreading, no man was allowed to board her. Of the thirty-nine crew and three hundred passengers who boarded in Spain, only twenty-three of her crew and two hundred and four of her passengers reached the New World. It was 1598." He sighed. "Three years later, I joined Onate in his first expedition. I was one of twelve Franciscan priests who accompanied Onate and over a hundred of his Spanish soldiers on this great journey. I was young, but twenty-five years of age, and still full of God's spirit. I was determined to go even though my dearest friend and fellow priest, Juan de Torres, begged me to stay behind."

"Many months into the expedition, we feared attack by the Rayados people who were gathering in number ahead of us, but when we turned to head back it was our so-called allies, the Escanjaques, who attacked us. I was mortally wounded during this battle, and yet it was Juan de Torres who came for me that night, lifting me far away from the battlefield and the dead and dying. I can recall lying close to death, and remember the cloying taste of blood in my mouth as he quenched my thirst. Then came an incredible pain as my body died and was reborn. At first I thought it was God's work, that He had shown me His mercy... until I realized that de Torres was a demon in disguise, and that he had made me one of his minions."

' _Guess this de Torres never gave him a chance to say no to the Dark Gift_ ,' Vin mind-whispered.

' _Bet this de Torres was the one doing all the killing on the crossing from Spain_ ,' Chris added silently, and Vin agreed. They listened quietly as Hernando continued.

"At first we hunted among those who had attacked the expedition, the Escanjaques, to ease the terrible hunger that only blood could assuage. For the One Hundred and twenty-two years that followed we traveled together at night, feeding from those who refused to take the Lord's name into their hearts, and hanging them upside down as a warning to others to believe in our Lord and Savior."

"Then one night we came across a Cherokee village." Another smile, softer and full of love was followed by immeasurable grief. "Oo-Wa-Te... which means, _he stands in the door_."

Chris realized that Oo-Wa-Te may not have been Hernando's child after all. Instead it was more likely that de Torres had turned Oo-Wa-Te to be a companion for Hernando, just as Lestat had originally turned Vin to be a companion for Louis. Hernando's next words confirmed this and, reading between the lines, Chris knew Hernando and Oo-Wa-Te had been devoted to each other, just as he and Vin could barely stand a night apart even after all these decades.

Eventually, Oo-Wa-Te and Hernando had shunned the ever-changing world, burying themselves deep inside that old mine until Akasha's awakening destroyed Oo-Wa-Te, who was too young to withstand her call to destruction. It explained why Hernando had reverted back to the old way of killing, powered by his grief, though Josiah was shocked to discover that the Good Samaritan, Patrick Swansom, was not quite the saintly man that he had portrayed to Josiah and other charity workers. Sansom had been siphoning off money that should have gone into providing food and shelter to the poor and homeless, using it instead to support a gambling habit that he could ill afford. Swansom wasn't the cruel and heartless type that Chris and the others might normally choose for a victim. He had not killed anyone, but others had suffered through his greed and temptation.

"Now you have my story. Now I demand to know why my beloved Oo-Wa-Te is gone forever."

"Tomorrow," Chris stated firmly. "I give you my word. We've got less than an hour until sunrise, and that's not enough time to tell the whole history of the Vampire race." He waited until Hernando nodded his reluctant agreement. "Josiah?"

Josiah nodded, and led Hernando away to where he could sleep away the day in one of the extra rooms Josiah had built into his underground sanctuary for guests.

*****

Chris sighed and stretched out on the bed, enjoying the luxury of clean sheets and soft pillows. Vin stretched out beside him, stretching languidly before rolling onto one side to face Chris. He trailed a finger over Chris's blood-warmed chest before speaking quietly.

"Can't imagine ever willingly choosing to bury myself deep in a cave to ride out the centuries."

With a mischievous smile Chris had to ask, "Not even for me?"

Vin grinned and slowly moved across the bed until he was straddling Chris, knees bracketing Chris's thighs. He leaned down onto his forearms and lightly kissed Chris on the lips before drawing back a fraction and looking him in the eyes. The moment lengthened between them as Chris lost himself in the summer-sky blue of Vin's eyes, reading the adoration and love as easily as reading Vin's thoughts.

"Maybe for you, Cowboy." The smile grew wicked. "But only if you begged real purty."

"Ain't the one who'll be begging." Chris arched up, hearing Vin gasp as their bodies pushed together, sending delightful frissons of pure pleasure dancing through them.

"Damn it, Larabee. What you do to me."

"Not doing anything you don't want, Vin," he retorted, moaning softly in pleasure as Vin pressed down and took him again in a more demanding kiss, slowly losing himself in the passion of having his beloved in his arms.

There were days when he remembered all he had lost by becoming a vampire, but the advances of technology had already given back part of the illusion of standing in a meadow of a summer's day. One day it might no longer even feel like an illusion at all, but like the real thing.

Today was different. Today he'd been reminded of everything he still had to lose and he knew without a doubt that he could survive any loss but that of the man - vampire - pushing slowly inside him, filling him both physically and mentally. Perhaps he had lost the sun for a time, but he still had the stars, and a bright halo of light that formed a ring around the moon... and he still had Vin wrapped around his heart.

END

[](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1087044)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [2013 Big Bang](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1087044) by [DichotomyStudios](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DichotomyStudios/pseuds/DichotomyStudios)




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